Tag Archives: Organizational Development

Organizational development is a vital part of the success of any business. It is underpinned by a long and interesting history, as well as a variety of tools, processes, models and theories. The type of theories that you choose to apply for your company depend on how you operate and function, and what the goals and strategies are in place. Let’s take a look at this in a bit more detail.

Organizational Development (OD) is still quite new and is therefore a practice that is still evolving. The definition, as such, isn’t fully set yet and new principles are added or amended regularly. However, it is about an approach that is fully based on values and that celebrates the dynamic nature of any organization. It attempts to ensure that organizations are able to reach and sustain the state that it wants to achieve, thereby benefiting its employees and its customers and networks.

Regardless of the industry in which they work, organizations and businesses come across a variety of issues in terms of the people that work there and their performance. It has been found that the biggest issue is that the two types of strategies employed in businesses, which are people strategies and business strategies, are misaligned.

If change takes place, such as the standardization of processes, internal growth, acquisition, restructuring and so on, this misalignment tends to get worse very quickly. If a company is committed to having excellent organizational development and change strategies in place, then this misalignment is often reduced significantly.

Organizational development is a very important concept that has now been included in most organizations that have a commitment to delivering excellent HR (human resources) practices. However, the field remains little understood, with very few truly understanding what organizational development is actually about. Only a few understand what is actually needed to be done in order to be truly effective. Basically, the field is a new approach, one that is based on values, to a systematical change in organizations.

Organizational Development is the process that brings together knowledge and practice within an organization, thereby allowing it to become far more effective. This increased effectiveness constitutes such things as higher productivity and a better work-life balance. The integrated approach we know as organizational development today started in the 1950s and 60s. Professionals started to apply behavioral science at all levels of the organization, working not just on groups and inter-groups, but also on the organization as a whole, as well as individuals. This allowed them to better plan change and implement it as well. It is believed that the most determining factor in organizational development is behavior.

“Andrew Ure incorporated human factors into his work, The Philosophy of Manufactures (1835). Ure, like a lot of others, recognized the mechanical and commercial parts of manufacturing, but he also added a third – the human factor. It took quite a while for this “human factor” to become accepted. In addition, it often turned into paternalistic, do-good approach, rather than genuine recognition of the importance of workers.”Organizational Development